Dhammapada 219–220

When someone long away returns safely from afar, relatives, friends, and loved ones welcome their…

When someone long away returns safely from afar, relatives, friends, and loved ones welcome their return with gladness. In just this way, when one who has done good deeds goes from this world to the next, their good deeds receive them as relatives receive a loved one returning.

Translated from the Pāli by Banya

In plain words

A person returning safely after a long absence is welcomed by loved ones. The paired verses use that welcome to picture good deeds receiving their doer after death in the next world.

Key words

puññāni

good deeds — The deeds are personified as welcoming their doer after death.

The story behind the verse

Nandiya attains heavenly glory

In the commentary, Nandiya was a wealthy lay follower who gave support to monks. He built a dwelling for the community, and the commentary says that a jeweled palace arose for him in the world of the gods. Moggallāna visited that world and saw the palace, and the beings there explained that it resulted from Nandiya’s gift. Moggallāna returned and asked the Buddha about what he had seen, and the Buddha compared good deeds receiving their doer after death to loved ones welcoming someone home.

Retold by Banya from the traditional commentary, after E. W. Burlingame, Buddhist Legends (1921).

Explanation by Banya. Traditional readings vary.